[robg]

I'm a little late posting this, but oh well. I participated in my first TT race last Friday night, at the Thunderbowl Speedway in Dayton, Nevada. I had a great time! I finished 8th out of 12 in the first race because I had a small spill after coming around a hairpin turn too hard and nearly flipped the quad over (it ejected me though), but the second and final race of the night, I was 4th out of 9. I could do a lot better if I could learn to take the hairpin turns better. I'm still overshooting them. So tonight, I'm going back again! The goal last time was to Not Be Last. Well since that happened, my goal tonight is to simply Do Better. Changes I've made since then include going back to my 38T rear sprocket, because I found myself constantly shifting between 3rd and 4th. To really be able to use fourth, I'd have to go up at least two teeth, and nobody will make a 41T sprocket for the Predator (yet), and I now know a 12T front won't clear the chain slide on the swingarm, so my only remaining choice was to drop a tooth in the rear. Hopefully that'll work. I got the two races on video, thanks to a friend. You can see those and other videos here. I'm not yet sure if I'll be able to get tonight's races taped or not, but if I do, I will add them to that page over the weekend. Rob

 

[chickenboy]

Rob,

It looks fun...what is TT racing?

 

[mdepdawg]

Rob, great job!! Looks like you had a blast. I am with Kevin though, WHAT does TT stand for???? Thanks and keep representing.

 

[marlboro80]

video looks awsome, i wish we had tt racing around here!

 

[razorglare]

Rob, that looks really cool. If that was your first race you did damm good. Too bad that guy crowed you in the first race and you tumbled. Looks like some of the beginner class with you had the rear ends lowered. What tires did you have on? The stock RAZR would slide too much I think. I see the Pros and they look really smooth in the corners. I read an article from a pro racer once and he said he just used the front brake on the corners and shift your ass into the corner and maybe down shifted in the real sharp ones. I try to run a track like that just at the local area, but not close to that track. Man I wish they had one of those down in San Diego, the best they have is a MX track open to only Quads on Monday nigt an dno racing. Have to go up to LA area Glen Helen and places like that. And thanks for the great videos. Good luck on the next race.

 

[robg]

Well tonight ended almost as quickly as it began.. I won't go into detail, but a very minor mistake on my part during the first practice, and a total overreaction on their part served to remind me of how much I disliked racing, and why I quit autocrossing in the first place. I packed my stuff up and was outta there by 7 PM. I have absolutely no intention of going again.

So now I have a bunch more gear to eBay... pants, two jerseys, nerf bars, etc. Just as well... less chance for injury and less expense and stuff too.

Rob

 

[vortec57]

hate to see that youre quitting already, though i know there is a lot of b.s. tha goes on at some tracks. what kinda gear you selling?

 

[shadow]

great videos Rob looked like a great time....good job

 

[mdepdawg]

Sorry to hear that Rob. You seemed to like it and you were doing pretty well too from what I saw. Just a ?, what kind of nerfs are they and how much you want for them?

 

[razorglare]

Sorry to hear your through with it, looked like lots of fun. But I hear ya, I know there are allways some asses at competitions of any type that pull out the rule book for some small incident that most would just forget about. They use it as a way to eliminate the compitition.

Could you at least go to that track to just run like practice for fun and not race? Myself I'd just like to run the track and wouldn't care if anyone else is on it or not.

 

[robg]

Okay, in a nutshell, this is what happened... they announced practice and that the oval track was open for a few minutes. So I went out and on the first lap, I had managed to forget that they said OVAL TRACK, and I turned and ran the regular course instead. I realized this as soon as I turned back onto the oval, but when I came around, the flagger guy was black flagging me and screaming at me and looking/acting like I just killed somebody. I think if he thought he could get away with it, he'd be flipping me off too.

For a track and race series that isn't sanctioned and is supposed to be laid back, this guy was a monumental *******. That's when I suddenly remembered all the crap I went through during my six years of autocrossing and decided that I simply wanted no part of it. I loaded up my machine and went home.

All I did was make a simple freakin' mistake. There were a total of THREE QUADS on the track at the time. That's ALL. And this guy goes and has a freakin' hissy fit about it. I don't need this ****.

Rob

 

[vortec57]

what a load, some people get a flag in their hand and think it means they are god, im looking to try the TT thing myslef though so i might be interested in some of your gear, mail me at [email protected] with what you have if you wold, thanks.

 

[quadjunkies]

Im sorry to hear if this Rob....Although I TOTALLY understand. We have a fw of them guys here as well. It would take me literally an hour to tell you of all the bullshit that goes one here and some of the dirty racing that has been allowed at any expense Just to play the crowd and bring in more mone,y well I can tell you this....I wont be a part of it, The owner of our track caught wind that we have a group of lady racers this year and was totoally jacked and wanted us to "peurosely" bump tires and throw people into walls, this is what Clear Channel asked us to do for Quad Wars as well...... I race for fun and I would NEVER cause bodily harm to ANYONE on purpose and the day Im asked to do that....My racing is over.... Why is it that the people at these tracks feel the need to treat us like friggin dirt??? We help pay for those tracks and w/o us on them.............there wouldnt be any...!!!

 

[quadjunkies]

BTW Rob...You still done awesome on your first race .....

 

[scott_b]

AWSOME racing Rob! Too bad you had to leave..! Looked like a ton of fun! I love the commentary on the first vid.."hes in first..hes still in first!"

So yeah..what kinda stuff you selling?

 

[robg]

I'm still trying to decide what I want to keep and what I want to sell, but once I do, I will post it all to the For Sale area.

Not sure if I should just save the helmet, pants and jersey for winter riding or if I should sell it. The chest protector and roll-off goggles I'd prefer to sell though.

Rob

 

[vortec57]

did my first tt race saturday, im hooked. now im needing suggestions for tires, pretty much a blue groove track, the 2 strokers complained it was slick, my razrs and my friends holeshots both were hooking up a little to well in the corners. anybody know of a way to drop the front and not be on the bumpstops? shorter springs or something? anyone with suggestions please e mail me, [email protected]

 

[braff1]

That was a good first race Rob. Just a suggestion, get a new camera man, one that is more Positive with you being in first. j/k

Reminded me of my first XC race, got ran into the banners wipping them out and then as we went into the woods I hit someone in 3rd wfo, quad an me went rolling down the hill. By the time I got upright and running I was mid pack the next class. Anyway finished 9th out of 18 in my class.

Your track incident sounded like nothing more than a honest newby kinda mistake. I am sure that the noise there does not make it easy to hear either. I just wish we had a place to run tt races here. Looks fun.

 

[braff1]

QJ, remember "Days of Thunder" with Tom Cruise? When Harry tells Cole "Rubbin is Racing Cole"

don't blame you on the rubbin idea. I don't like peeps gettin in my wheels.

 

[quadjunkies]

LOL...
Yeah I do remember that movie....Well, I went out to the track to practice over the wk end.,First time out since Dec. I have a few new accessories so things were running WAY better this year and faster Including myself!!!!! The track of course wasnt wet down since it wasnt a race day, so it was very dry and rough.I had on a set of brand new Truf Tamers and Troy was runnin my set of Razrs on his just until his beadlocks came in.Well.........I couldnt believe how fast it could chew up a set of tires!!!! Rode ofr only a little over an hour and Im gonna have to rotate my tires after around two more rides!